Fumigating apparatus

ABSTRACT

A FUMIGATING OR SANITIZING APPARATUS COMPRISING A FLEXIBLE AND COLLAPSIBLE RECEPTACLE AND MEANS FOR INTRODUCING FUMIGANT THEREIN TO SANITIZE AND DEODORIZE ARTICLES PLACED WITHIN THE RECEPTACLE.

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INVENTOR R J.CASS|DY FIG. 7

ATIORNEY United States Patent O 3,554,687 FUMIGATING APPARATUS Robert J. Cassidy, 540 Chick Springs Road,

Greenville, S.C. 29609 Filed Dec. 24, 1968, Ser. No. 786,577 Int. Cl. A611 3/00 US. C]. 21-91 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A fumigating or sanitizing apparatus comprising a flexible and collapsible receptacle and means for introducing fumigant therein to sanitize and deodorize articles placed within the receptacle.

A distinct need exists for a lightweight, portable fumigating apparatus for use in sanitizing and deodorizing pillows and other bedding in hospitals, motels and other institutional facilities. Availabl means are not only expensive and not readily available but do not lend themselves to on the site operation. This means that hospitals, motels and the like have no practical means available for fumigating bedding and similar articles and therefore frequently such processing is entirely neglected, which is obviously undesirable from the standpoint of health and public appeal when these facilities are encountered.

Entire room areas in hospitals and motels may be fumigated but this procedure is quite ineffective for sanitizing and deodorizing bedding for the simple reason that there is no provision of means causing the fumigant to penetrate or permeate the interior portions of the bedding articles and these articles are therefore subjected to a mere surface treatment, at best.

The invention apparatus completely overcomes the above inadequacies of the prior art and provides an efiicient, economical and lightweight portable machine for thoroughly fumigating bedding and similar articles in such a manner that the aerosol fumigant is either circulated or drawn into the innermost reaches of the articles under treatment. No skill is required to operate the apparatus and an automatic operating cycle is provided under control of a cycle timer. The fumigating apparatus is quickacting and therefore capable of handling a large quantity of bedding articles or the like in a relatively short period of time. The above and other advantages and features of the invention will be apparent as the description proceeds.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a fumigating apparatus embodying the invention.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged vertical section through the ap paratus.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the apparatus, partly in section and partly broken away.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic side elevational view of the apparatus.

FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view similar to FIG. 2 showing a modified embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view of another modification of the invention, particularly adapted as a home appliance and being hand-cycled.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary central longitudinal cross section through the apparatus of FIG. 6, parts broken away.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to the drawings in detail wherein like numerals designate like parts and considering first FIGS. 1 through 4, the numeral 10 designates a cabinet or housing 3,554,687 Patented Jan. 12, 1971 having a top hinged access cover 11, as shown. The cabinet is preferably mounted on caster wheels 12 for ready portability, and other details of the cabinet may be conventional and are unnecessary to describe herein.

Mounted centrally in the lower portion of the cabinet 10 is a rectangular vacuum manifold or chamber 13 having a lower central tubular extension 14, within which is suitably mounted a suction producing means, such as a motor 15, driving a fan 16. The extension 14 is secured fixedly to the manifold 13 and to the floor 17 of cabinet 10. The top wall 18 of vacuum manifold 13 is perforated over substantially its entire surface area, as shown in FIG. 3.

Above the vacuum manifold 13 and secured thereto by suitable strap means 19 is a thin-walled flexible bag or enclosure 20 adapted to collapse under atmospheric pressure when a vacuum is created in the manifold 13. The bag 20 is preferably formed of an air impermeable plastic or some similar material. It may have at its top a simple fold closure 21 or a zipper closure, if preferred. A perfect seal is not necessary for satisfactory operation. The collapsible bag 20 is of a size to accommodate preferably four bed pillows P as indicated in FIG. 2 although this capacity may be varied under the invention. When filled, the bag 20 occupies a major portion of the interior space of cabinet 10, as shown.

A first aerosol container 22 of conventional form is mounted inside of the bag 20 near one corner of the manifold 13 with its depressible valved outlet 23 directed downwardly inside of the manifold. The container 22 is held steady by a spring bracket or clip 24. The pressurized aerosol container may hold any one of a number of known deodorizing and disinfecting substances readily available on the market. When the outlet element 23 is forced upwardly by means to be described, the contents of the container 22 will be directed into the manifold 13 toward the center thereof in the required amount.

A second substantially identical container 25 of aerosol disinfectant and deodorizing material is held upright in a bracket support 26 on one side wall of the cabinet 10 exteriorly of the collapsible bag 20 so that When the bag collapses to a compacted condition generally as shown by the phantom line 27, the atmosphere in the cabinet 10 will be saturated with the fumigant spray as well as the atmosphere in the manifold 13 and this further increases the efficiency of the fumigating process to be further described.

Additionally, one or more ozone lamps 28 are preferably mounted on a side wall of the cabinet 10 near the manifold 13 to kill bacteria and other oxidizable substances which may have saturated the bedding being treated. The number and arrangement of these lamps may be varied as desired, as well as the number and placement of the aerosol cans or dispensers in the apparatus.

A main gate valve 29 for alternately sealing and uncovering the tubular extension 14 of the vacuum manifold is pivoted at 30 to the bottom wall of the manifold and is biased open normally, as shown in FIG. 2, but adapted to be closed by a solenoid 31 whose plunger is directly connected with a crank arm 32 on the valve 29. One or more additional manifold valves 33 are similarly mounted on the bottom wall of the manifold 13 at desired locations and, for simplicity, only one such valve is indicated in the drawings. This valve 33 is operated by a solenoid 34 through a connection 35. An additional solenoid 36 on the bottom wall of manifold 13 has its plunger 37 arranged in alignment with the outlet element 23 of aerosol container 22 to automatically operate this dispensing container at the proper times. Similarly, another solenoid 38 mounted on the cabinet rear wall 39 has its plunger connected with a lever 40 which is positioned to control the operation of the aerosol container 25 at desired times.

A conventional cycle timer 41 is provided to control and time the operation of the various components and the electrical wiring is simple and conventional and therefore need not be shown herein for a proper understanding of the invention.

Briefly, the invention embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 through 4 operates as follows. The cover 11 is raised and pillows, bed blankets, or similar articles, are placed in the bag 20 substantially filling it and the closure 21 is folded so as to close the mouth of the bag, although a completely air tight seal is not required for satisfactory operation. An on push button 42 is utilized to start the cycle and the manifold valve or valves 33 are closed at this time while the vacuum sealing valve 29 is open, as shown in FIG. 2. The motor 15 and fan 16 now begin to operate to draw a partial vacuum in the vacuum manifold 13 and inside of the collapsible bag 20 which immediately begins to collapse under atmospheric pressure in the cabinet 10. To assure atmospheric pressure around the bag 20, the

cabinet 10 may be vented at 43, although ordinary leakage around the cover 11 may be sufficient to prevent any vacuum from being formed around the bag as it collapses. The collapsing of the bag 20 easily compacts the pillows to a fraction of their full size and expells contaminated air from them through the outlet 14.

While this collapsing is taking place, the cycle timer activates solenoid 38 which in turn activates aerosol container to discharge the fumigant aerosol spray into the cabinet chamber surrounding the bag 20, thus permeating the interior of the cabinet with fumigant. When the bag 20 is collapsed to approximately the point indicated in the drawings, the solenoid 31 is activated to close the valve 29 and simultaneously the solenoids 34 and 36 are activated to open manifold valve or valves and to cause container 22 to dispense fumigant directly into the manifold 13. At this time, the fumigant dispenser 25 may also remain active.

While this is occurring, the resiliency of the pillows P will cause the flexible bag 20 to rapidly expand toward its original full condition and the valve 33 being open will vent the vacuum manifold 13 so that the fumigant laden atmosphere within the cabinet 10 outside of the bag will be drawn into the manifold and this, with the additional fumigant from the container 22, will be aspirated or drawn through the perforations 18 and into the porous pillows or like articles as they expand to thoroughly sanitize and deodorize the same. Additionally, the circulation of air within the cabinet externally of the bag 20 will be subjected to the germ killing action of the ozone lamps 28. The complete cycle of operation may be repeated any required number of times prior to removing the fumigated pillows or articles through the top of the bag and cabinet.

The various controls for the apparatus are convenient- 1y mounted in a box 44 between the rear wall 39 and extreme rear wall 45.

FIG. 5 shows a modification of the invention wherein the articles to be sanitized and deodorized are subjected to a continuous circulation of fumigant and disinfected air rather than to the repetitive evacuation and release cycle of the prior embodiment. In FIG. 5, substantially the identical cabinet 10 having lid or cover 11' is employed and within this cabinet a rigid open top container or basket 46 for pillows or like articles is mounted in lieu of the bag 20. The basket 46 has a perforated bottom wall 47 forming the top of a manifold chamber 48, having a bottom wall 49 and an outlet tubular extension 50 within which is mounted a motor 51 and fan or blower 52. The lower end of tubular exttension 50 is spaced from the floor 53 of the cabinet to allow easy circulation of air in all radial directions, as shown.

Ozone generator means or lamps 54 are disposed in the vertical passages 55 around the basket 46 through which air continuously circulates upwardly as shown by the arrows.

Adjacent the open top of the basket 46, a fumigant aerosol spray is directed into the cabinet from a container 56 mounted on a suitable bracket 57 attached to the rear side wall 58. A solenoid 59 having an operator 60 secured to its plunger is positioned to depress the outlet nozzle 61 of the aerosol dispenser so that the fumigant spray will enter the cabinet horizontally and immediately above the basket 46. Suitable louvers 62 may be arranged around the tops of passages 55 to diffuse the circulating air, and protect the operators eyes from ultraviolet radiation from the lamps 54.

In operation, the fan 52 continuously draws air with entrained fumigant down through the pillows in the basket 46. This air then flows upwardly through passages 55 and is subjected to the purifying action of the lamps 54 and at the top of the basket receives additional fumigant from the dispenser 56 which is held in operation by the solenoid 59 either continuously or in bursts. If desired, additional dispensers 56 may be located at selected points around the top of the cabinet.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show a modification of the invention primarily for use in the home for fumigating a single pillow, blanket or the like and utilizing the suction of an ordinary household vacuum cleaner. The structure in FIGS. 6 and 7 constitutes a hand-cycled evacuation and release apparatus similar to the first embodiment of the invention in FIGS. 1 through 4.

In FIGS. 6 and 7, the apparatus embodies a flexible collapsible air impermeable bag 63 having a zipper closure 64 and into which a single pillow 65 or the like may be placed. The bag 63 is secured to one side of a manifold 66 in a substantially air tight manner as at 67 while a similar bag or container 68 constituting a fumigant accumulator is similarly attached at 69 to the other side of the manifold. A vacuum hose 70 leading to a household vacuum cleaner is coupled at 71 to one end of the manifold.

The manifold 66 contains a manually operable spool valve comprising three spaced connected valve spools 72, 73 and 74, slidable as a unit through the manifold, the latter having a corresponding number of ports 75, 76 and 77, as shown clearly in FIG. 7. The spool valve structure has a manual rod operator 78 having a slight lost motion connection at 79 with the spool element 72. The rod 78 has a generally L-shaped operator 80 rigid therewith projecting through a slot 81, in the manifold 66, and into the accumulator bag 68, adjacent to the dispensing nozzle 82 of an aerosol fumigant dispenser 83 disposed therein and held by suitable bracket means 84 on the manifold 66. A compression spring 85 surrounds the rod 78 and bears against the operator 80 so as to bias the rod and operator outwardly relative to the spool element 72.

The operation of the invention in FIGS. 6 and 7 is as follows. The vacuum source is activated to produce suction in the manifold 66 through hose 70 and the rod 78 is shifted forwardly toward the coupling 71 so that the ports 76 and 77 are opened while the port. is closed. This will place the interior of the collapsible bag 63 in direct communication with the manifold 66 and suction will be created in the bag and outside atmospheric pressure will collapse the bag and substantially compress the pillow within it, thus exhausting from the pillow the air which is normally inside of it.

When the rod 78 is pushed forwardly to the position shown in FIG. 7, the operator may cause a momentary burst of fumigant from the spray nozzle 82. However, to conserve the fumigant in the container 83 until the most opportune moment, the spring and lost motion connection 79 will cause the operator 80 to back off slightly and release the nozzle 82 while the bag 83 is collapsing. When fully collapsed, the operator may then push forwardly on the rod 78 against the spring 85 and while the spool valve is still positioned as in FIG. 7, the desired amount of fumigant from the container or dispenser 83 is directed into the accumulator bag 68. Following this, the operator simply retracts the rod 78 to a position where the ports 76 and 77 are closed and the port 75 is open, thus placing the two bags 63 and 68 in communication and blocking the suction from the hose 70 to bag 63. Retraction of the rod 78 with operator 80 also shuts off dispenser 83. Immediately the pillow 65 will expand with the bag 63 and the fumigant laden atmosphere in the accumulator bag 68 will be drawn through the port 75 into the bag 63 and into the interior of the pillow by suction or aspiration, and the bag 68 will be substantially evacuated and will collapse. The manually controlled evacuation and release cycle may be repeated any desired number of times to thoroughly sanitize and deodorize the article in the bag 63.

It is believed that the various features and advantages of the several forms of the invention will now be understood by those skilled in the art without further description.

It is to be understood that the forms of the invention herewith shown and described are to be taken as preferred examples of the same, and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may be resorted to, without departing from the spirit of the invention or scope of the subjoined claims.

I claim:

1. A fumigation apparatus comprising a vacuum manifold and suction means connected with the manifold to draw a partial vacuum therein, a flexible and collapsible receptacle for porous compressible articles to be fumigated having a connection with said manifold, valve means on said manifold and operable to render the suction means active or inactive relative to said manifold and receptacle, and a fumigant dispenser means connected with said manifold and introducing fumigant into the manifold when the valve means is adjusted to render the suction means inactive relative to said manifold and receptacle, wherein said fumigant dispenser means comprises a flexible aerosol accumulator receptacle connected with said manifold, a container of pressurized aerosol fumigant carried by the manifold and adapted to direct an aerosol spray into said accumulator receptacle, and a common operator means for said pressurized container and said valve means.

2. The invention as defined by claim 1, and a lost motion connection between said common operator means and asid valve means so that the operator may disengage the pressurized container when the valve means is in a position to place the suction means in active communication with said manifold and collapsible receptacle.

3. A fumigation aparatus comprising a vacuum manifold and suction means connected with the manifold to draw a partial vacuum therein, a flexible and collapsible receptacle for porous compressible articles to be fumigated having a connection with said manifold, valve means on said manifold and operable to render the suction means active or inactive relative to said manifold and receptacle, and a fumigant dispenser means connected with said manifold and introducing fumigant into the manifold when the valve means is adjusted to render the suction means inactive relative to said manifold and receptacle, wherein said fumigant dispenser comprises an accumulator receptacle in communication with said manifold and a source of pressurized fumigant on the manifold capable of directing an aerosol spray into the accumulator receptacle, and said valve means comprises a movable valve unit operable to place the collapsible receptacle in communication with the manifold and suction means and to then block communication between the accumulator receptacle and manifold and subsequently operable to establish communication between the collapsible receptacle and accumulator receptacle.

4. A fumigation apparatus as defined by claim 3, and an operating element carried by the movable valve unit and engageable with said fumigant dispenser to operate the outlet thereof.

5. A fumigation apparatus as defined by claim 3, wherein said valve unit is a reciprocatory plural spool valve unit and said manifold has plural spaced ports adapted to be selectively covered and uncovered by the spool valve elements of said reciprocatory unit.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,817,533 8/1931 Spanel 21-127 1,817,536 8/1931 Spanel 21127 2,254,276 9/1941 Ellis 21--109 2,333,512 11/1943 Becker 21127 3,114,599 12/1963 Fanning 21-91X FOREIGN PATENTS 236,071 10/1961 Australia 21--58 558,063 12/1943 Great Britain 2191 899,009 7/ 1944 France 2191 899,041 7/1944 France 2191 921,983 3/ 1963 Great Britain 2191 MORRIS O. WOLK, Primary Examiner J. T. ZATARGA, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 2l--109, 127 

